Thursday, January 12, 2012

It was the best sled riding hill in the world. Or at least that’s what my children thought.

Not only was it steep and fast, the top of the hill was right by the laundry room door…a perfect scenario for three small children with perpetually cold hands and feet.

I sat by the kitchen window with a cup of steaming tea and watched three penguin children waddle up and down the glittery slope. Their red, navy and sky blue ski suits gleamed brightly against the white canvas of snow.

A black-speckled enamel sauce pan filled with hot cocoa simmered on the stove. The adjoining laundry room was cozy with the constantly running dryer.

When the knocks came, I would open the laundry room door and three red-cheeked children would crowd into the warm space…snow melting onto the ugly linoleum floor into immediate puddles adorned with discarded mittens and long, colorful scarves.

They would sip eagerly at small mugs of cocoa…anxious to return to the excitement of sleds in the arctic, or magic carpet rides, or whatever their imaginations concocted around the slickery fun of sliding down hills…fast, fast, fast.

Then each child would be lifted up onto the dryer where I would exchange their cold little socks for warm ones. Warm-from-the-dryer mittens would go back on little hands, warm scarves would wrap around glowing little faces…

…and they were off!

And so was I.

Mittens, gloves and socks went back into the dryer for the next round.

Puddles would be mopped up.

Cocoa mugs rinsed out.

And I would resume my post by the kitchen window.

I was the guardian of my children making memories...

...The official guardian of the hill…

This little memory is written in honor of the letter “H” for Alphabe-Thursday. H is for Hill.

This post is linked to Alphabe-Thursday's letter "H". To read other offerings, just click here.

When my daughter was small, we lived in Mpls. Oh, how we kept that dryer hummin'. Your story brought back lots of memories. We're having snow today so my daughter will be doing the dryer/cocao thing this afternoon. Jan

We are in the midst of our first snow storm today...you brought back such memories with this. Of course I don't think I had your patience. You make it all sound so sweet and I wonder now if I was complaining about the puddles.

great post. My mom used to make us this hot tea that had the orange ting in it. It was nasty and I usually took it into the bathroom and dumped it into the toliet. (not sure why I just didnt dump it down the sink I was a weird kid)

This takes me back to my childhood! It wasn't exactly like your picture, but not terribly different. We had the best hill. It was across the street and through a neighbor's yard. Up and down the hill we'd go for hours. till our feet were freezing. We'd run home and put those feet up on the radiator to warm. Back out again we'd go!

Hello Jenny.The way you retell your stories just brings tears to my eyes. They are so vivid & heartfelt. You should consider putting all these posts into a memoir.Simply lovely.Thanks you for sharing & allowing us to be a part of your nostalgic journeys. Hugs & best wishes.

This post conjures up so many sweet thoughts, a child's free play and imagination born in a winter wonderland and the warms of a mom waiting inside to rejuvenate them with hot cocoa and dry clothes, warming them from inside out. Great job Jenny!